[PP-F18] A real challenge (Macradon, Hirru, Baldur, Calrex)

[Zandra 0]

Zandra opened her eyes and stared into the woodenplanks that was the roof in her bedroom. Beside her was her most precious person in the world, her irish spouse. As she sat up, he mumbled something. But a few seconds later, he continued to sleep. She moved her legs over the side of the bed, careful so she wouldn’t wake him up. Then she pushed herself up and went to the bathroom. There she stepped into the shower and turned on the water. Water in exactly the right temperature rained down on her.

20 minutes later she stepped out of the bathroom, a few swipes and she was clad in her casual town-clothing she bougth from Ariel so long time ago. With a wave towards the bed she exited the room and went downstairs to the room that worked as her store. There she walked up to one of the shelfs and picked some potions, just in case. Then she went outside and sat down at their porch. There she started to write a message.

From: Zandra

Good morning adventurers of Aincrad. I just wanted to say that I am heading towards Eriwald to try a real challenge, to complete one of the hardest challenges available at the moment. Clear a dungeon on the highest floor unlocked. Thou I don’t think Im able to complete it alone. So if you wanna join in, Im waiting at the warp plaza in Eriwald.

Best regards Zandra

After hitting the send button, she pushed herself up and headed to Zugaikotsushima and the warp gate. She entered it and loud and clear said one word. ‘’Eriwald!’’ she disappeared in a flash of light and a few moments later she exited the teleportation gate in Eriwald. There she walked up to  a nearby house and leaned towards the wall, waiting if anyone would appear.

Bed: +1 on any already known skill for one post
Shower: +1 on any combat skill for next 3 turns of combat

 

Edited October 3, 2016 by Zandra

[Baldur 0]

Baldur turned to Calrex as they had been practicing together, as the wanna-be samurai attempted to teach his ultramarine kouhei how to use the katana. The sender wasn't someone on his friend list, but the name was one he recognized instantly. It was Aincrad's most powerful support player, and a force to be reckoned with as well. She may have labeled herself a healer, but he would not want to cross onto her badside either. She had even placed his health above her own attack in the fight against Leon, something he was thankful for. It wasn't often you saw someone place the health of others first like that.

"Hey Cal, you get this message from Zandra? She wants to take on a sub-dungeon on this floor." He gestured to the swampy bottom of the forest they had found themselves in.

"Wanna go check it out? Could be a good challenge, and I think you're the only tank up for something like this. It would be a good chance to practice what we preach."

He smiled at the bluenette. He knew what his friend's reply would be before he said it. Knowing that, Baldur sheathed his katana and turned to heard back towards the town. They weren't far away, having chosen a clearing outside the city walls to practice.

"Come on, let's go."

[Calrex 0]

With their training completed Calrex gave a nod as he swiped on his menu, sending the Shin Masamune back into his inventory before wiping some sweat from his brow, "Yeah, definitely got that. Sounds like a plan to me. I haven't heard of anyone completing a sub-dungeon on this floor yet, so we might as well be the trail blazers and take it on right?"

In the past he had met up with Zandra quite a few times and had gotten to know both the alchemist/healer and Jomei, her husband. The two seemed to have a good dynamic between each other, something he hoped would continue for the both of them even after the game was finished. He gave a friendly smirk before equipping his regular balanced gear set, "I'll stick with this until we get to her, but I have a feeling I might need to equip my best gear for defense. If the dungeons follow the same formula, these monsters are going to hit fairly hard. Meaning I'll have to leave the rest of the damage dealing up to you guys, heh."

With that he began to follow behind, making sure that Roc was keeping up from the air, "That would make three of us in total so far, so I wonder who else might be wiling to come along."

[Macradon 0]

He was laying there in his bed, starring out the window as he was laying on his side. Even though it wasn't really his bed, it was him who used it. Macradon was sleeping at a tavern for most parts, as he hadn't bought housing yet, and planned to make something really big out of it. For what he had to do now was just to train and get ready for the floor boss raid, it was going to get hectic, Macradon was sure of it. Getting up from his bed and down the stairs to pay the tavern keeper, Macradon would notice a Global Announcement. He would look at it and see it was Zandra who had sent it. "This will be interesting" he thought as he read it through, looking at what was about to commence. It was going to be a sub-dungeon roll, but on a floor that would be incredibly dangerous to do so. "Huh, all the way up there ... I guess it's a challenge I'll take" he said and would stock up on his items to make sure he had what he needed.

His inventory was filled with the items he needed, damage potions, banner and a few mitigation potions. "I hope this will be enough for me to survive this" he said as he would take in a deep breath and exhale again. He would begin to walk to the warp plaza of the first floor and stand in the middle of the warp pad "Warp, 18th floor" he said as light turquoise engulfed him and transported him from the first floor to the highest floor available, the floor he had discovered, well the second to do so. "Heh, this brings memories" he said as he would look at the suspended bridges over the stream of water that would course underneath the small main settlement of the 18th floor, Eriwald. Macradon was wearing his "new" garb that would pose who he was on non-guild field actions. His armor was worn as normally, but with his green and black robes on top of it to hide the red and white armor, just slightly. He wasn't wearing his helmet either, as he didn't think it would be necessary. As he knew how dangerous this floor actually was, he would chuck down a damage potion at the get go, just to be sure that he could actually kill something.

+6 Damage potion consumed.

Spoiler

Macradon

995 HP
98 Energy
2 Accuracy
0 Evasion
21 Base Damage (25 w/ Charge) (22 w/ Ferocity) (26 w/ Ferocity+Charge)
66 Mitigation

Items

Scarecrow's Sickle .......... // +6 Damage, +1 Bleed
Blood Crusader's Halfplate .. // +54 Mitigation
Blood Oath Necklace ......... // +2 Recovery, +Accuracy Regen

Battle Ready Inventory

<Perfect Damage potion> ..... // +6 Damage
<Perfect Mitigation potion> . // +54 Mitigation
<Banner of Command> ......... // +1 Damage to 4 targets

Buffs

+6 Damage

Skills

Two Handed Straight Sword  | Rank 5: +5 DMG
Heavy Armor                | Rank 3: +12 MIT
Search and Detect          | Rank 4: +4 LD
Charge                     | Rank 4: +4 DMG on first hit
Fighting Spirit            | +1 Hate generation
Disguise                   | +1 to your BD and +1 to your opponent’s BD/MD
Survival                   | Heal 6 HP when out of battle each post

Skill Mods

Finesse                    | Rank 1
Precision                  | +1 ACC
Reveal
Athletics                  | +1 DMG, +5 Health
Ferocity                   | Rank 5: +1 DMG when using 5th rank Sword Arts

 

Appearance

Spoiler

 

Edited October 4, 2016 by Macradon
Formatting

[Hirru 0]

The hunter had been in the middle of a hunt on the third floor.  Some new quests had popped up, and he wanted to get the most out of it.  With the upcoming floor raid, he had to get that much more stronger to become useful, or else he would be a burden to his team.  At least, that was what the hunter thought.  He had never been to a floor boss raid before, and the 18th would be his first.  He was nervous, even though he had a new responsibility.

Sighing in response to his dilemma, the hunter was surprised to find that he had a message awaiting him.

"Hmm.. Zandra?"

It was a request for anyone to explore the newly recovered 18th floor.  Immediately, the hunter's resolve burned brightly, as he ran his way back to Delilah Village to access the warp point.  His train of thought was that if he could push through the highest floor, find the sub-dungeon, and survive it all; then he would be truly ready for the floor boss.  From the message, the main city of the 18th floor was called...

"Warp!  Eriwald!"

The hunter appeared from within the teleportation platform onto the 18th floor, in the 'small' village of Eriwald.  The immediate sights that caught the hunter's attention was the amount of tainted water that seemed to flow naturally below them.  The village seemed to be built over such an environment.  He slowly shaved the unneeded thoughts out of his head, and began searching for Zandra.  With every step on the creaky wood, the hunter thought that he would have to keep his armor in fine repair around here, as the water could have anything wrong with it.

It didn't take too long to find the rendezvous point...

The hunter wasn't the only one, of course, but he was the ONLY one lower than everyone else.  The things that caught his eye when he came closer to were three familiar faces.  The samurai that the hunter had been venturing with, Baldur; his vanguard captain, Macradon; and the ultramarine knight, Calrex.  Coupled with Zandra, the entire group was leagues above him, and he could feel the pressure.

That wouldn't push him back, though, as he raised his unarmored sword hand in the air to wave to them.

"Howdy everyone!  Well, it looks like I'm the odd one out, huh?"

He said as he rubbed the back of his head, making his jade hair rustle a bit.

[Zandra 0]

First to arrive was a pair of players, both was familiar to the healer. Thou it seemed they wasn’t coming from the warp gate, they was coming from outside the village. ‘’Calrex and Baldur. Heya.’’ She said with a smile. ‘’Did you by any chance seen my announcement? Or are you just passing by for another reason? You seems to already have been done some work today.’’ She would be glad to have this couple with her on this dungeon run. After all, Calrex was the best tank in Aincrad, at least of those Zandra knew about. Actually, she haven’t spent much time with Baldur and didn’t knew much about him except what she has herd from others. Maybe that would change today.

Next to arrive was someone she had adventured thru Aincrad quite a lot with, Macradon. Lately they had both helped a lower levled one to complete the traveler quest as well as going thru the witch quests to get a cauldron to their shops. ‘’Heya Mac.’’ She greeted him. ‘’Are you up for the dungeon run? I guess its gonna be a little harder then our last one. Hehe.’’ The latest one they ahd done was located on the lowest floor where dungeons could exist, thirteen floors down. That was nothing compared to what they was gonna face now.

The fourth player to join her company was another player that she had been dungeoneering with. If she didn’t rembered wrong, she had also quested the Hoya with him and Macradon. It was Hirru. ‘’Heya hunter!’’ she said to him. ‘’So you wanted to join in on the dungeon run as well? Getting tired of those easy peacy ones after some time right?’’

Then she turned to the whole group. ‘’Well, I guess we are strong enough to take this on. What do you say? Shall we head out or wait if someone else is gonna turn up?’’

@Baldur

[Baldur 0]

Baldur smiled at the warm greeting Zandra had given him. He did not know much about her, but he had seen how she reacted under pressure in the boss fights, and at the floor boss meeting. He had been impressed by her, and was curious to work with her in a party and see how well everyone synergized.

"Yes, we were just coming to find you. Count us in." Baldur said with a smile and a slight bow of respect to her.

As he raised his head, he saw Macradon coming to join them as well. He had worked a few times with Macradon. The man could be humble and unassuming, but he was a force to be reckoned with in battle. He had seen the Knight wade through a literal army of foes with that massive weapon of his.

"Macradon, it is good to see you."

And shortly on his heels, Baldur saw that Hirru was coming up behind him.

"And the Jade hunter." He turned to Zandra with a smile, "We seem to have quite the party."

Baldur stretched out his arm and placed it on Calrex's shoulder and leaned on the moderately armored bluenette. He was apparently wanting to try tanking without having to use his full tank build out. It was like he enjoyed doing damage or something. A playful smile spread on Baldur's face as they all gathered around Zandra.

@Calrex

Spoiler

Baldur | Level 43 | 875 HP | 86 Energy | Katana Grand Master

48 MIT | 3 ACC | 15 DMG | 2 EVA | +3 S&D

Katana Rank 5
Light Armor Rank 3
Charge Rank 2
Ferocity Rank 5
Athletics
Precision
Survival
Meditation
Concentration
Search & Detect Rank 3
Battle Healing Rank 2
Fighting Familiar Rank 1 (+2 DMG)

Equipped Items:
Fudoshin | T2 Perfect | 2 Slots Damage (+4), 1 Slot Bleed
Ronin Uwa-Obi | T2 Perfect | 2 Slots Mit, 1 Slot Eva
Emerald Teardrop | Perfect | 2 Slots Acc, 1 Slot Eva

Battle Ready inventory
(5) Perfect Tier 2 Healing Crystals
(5) Perfect Tier 2 Mass Heal Crystals
(1) Teleportation Crystal
(1) Safeguard Potion
(1) Rare T2 Damage Potion
(2) Rare Antidotes

 

[Calrex 0]

"We've certainly got a decent party huh?"

As he followed after Baldur to the meeting area the bluenette gave a friendly wave to Zandra was the black-haired woman came into view, "Hey Zandra, good to see you're doing well."

Immediately following the duo's appearance came Macradon and Hirru, both members of the Knight of the Blood Oath. Macradon he had seen more than a few times due to his participation in the past boss raids, and he was certainly one of the players that was good at dealing with large numbers of enemies, as per the fact he was wielding a large two-handed straight sword, designed with Sword Arts specifically for that kind of situation. The last time he had seen Hirru was a while back, and only caught him a few times in the past. He was originally a part of Mack's first guild before it was absorbed into the Knights, but it was good to see that the young man was still working hard, "Mac, Hirru, good to see the both of you as well."

Feeling Baldur's weight on him the bluenette gave a laugh before swiping on his menu, "This time around I guess I'd better go with maximum defense while still keeping up my damage. That means this time around I'll only switch to the Grand Aegis when absolute necessary, because we also need to find out just how much damage these monsters can do."

Pressing a few items in his inventory his avatar was engulfed in a flash of light before the Grand Chariot II and Grand Guard II replaced his Amethyst Charm and Tide Pendant. With Roc still serving as a way of boosting his Accuracy, he didn't too much from the switch, "In any case, once you guys are all set let's see what we can find."

Spoiler

 

Calrex Stats Change:
ACC: 1
EVA: 0
MIT: 134
Thorns: 36
Heavy Momentum: 2

Skills Mods:
Athletics
OHSS R5 Ferocity
Vengeful Riposte
Safe Guard
Bull Rush

 

@Macradon

[Macradon 0]

As he approached the forming party, Macradon would smile as he would greet everyone "Well met, fellow warriors!" he said with an enthusiastic voice. Today was going to be epic, Macradon was sure of it. It was somewhat easy for them to do, the task at hand was simple at itself, but it would only become a problem when they had to fight their way through the masses of monsters and probably also an incredibly strong boss. Swiping those thoughts away for now, as his focus would be upon the party, Macradon approved Zandra's notion "Aye, I saw your announcement and thought it would be fun to take on a stronger dungeon this time" he said with an eager smile. He was ready for a challenge that wasn't a boss raid, right now, Dungeons were a great place to have fun and gain levels. That was indeed the case if they would find an Advanced Dungeon. 

The fellow players that had come around the place were none other than true frontliners. First up was Zandra, a notorious healer, now with a battleaxe; Baldur, the foreigner-samurai with his wicked Katana skills; Calrex, the great tank and current wielder of the Unique Skill Achilles; and finally, Hirru, The Jade Hunter, a fellow guild mate of Macradon. The party was quite the size, but he had nothing against that, it was just all dandy. He would nod his head at Baldur as he greeted him back "Good to see you in good shape as always, Baldur" he replied with a smile forming on his lips. Macradon would humbly lower his head lightly at Calrex "Good to see you as well, Calrex" he would say with a light voice as Hirru would arrive at the party. 

Laughing lightly at Hirru's comment, Macradon would reply "It does not matter if you're the odd one out or not, we will make you one of us ... One of us ... One of us!" he said with a hive-mind-like voice, making a silly joke at his friend. "Well, it's no biggy to have you tag along, the more the merrier, as I've always been saying" he said with a wide grin. This party was with many different roles, but it still seemed like a fine ensemble of players to raid a small sub-dungeon on the 18th floor. The thrill of the action would get Macradon pumped, he was ready.

@Hirru

[Hirru 0]

The hunter gave a small smile from the pleasantries given to everyone.  It had been some time since he had been with a full group of friendly people, that could also hold their own, he nearly forgot that everyone was nice, in their own way.  For the most part, he was glad that he came, though the hunter would not be as kind with the jokes.  If he ever thought of one.

To Baldur and Calrex, the hunter would nod in agreement.  Though it had only been a short time for Baldur, the hunter had not seen Calrex since their time with Mack.  That was back when the Knights were slightly bigger than they were now.

"It has been some time.  Well met!"

As for the joking of Zandra and Macradon, the hunter would jest in turn.  While opening his menu to make sure that everything was in order, he spoke out to them.

"If it wasn't for those easy peasy ones, I wouldn't be 'one of us', and still stuck in the lower floors."

He said as he rifled through his inventory, making sure that everything was in order.  After making sure of it all, he swiped the screen away before pulling a small leaflet of mandrake leaves and dried fruit from his pouch.  Rolling them up together into a pseudo-pill that he could pop in his mouth for easy buffing, instead of wasting several minutes on a full bowl of the salad.

"I'm ready when you are."

[Heartrock Salad used] +2 LD

Spoiler

Hirru / Lv 34

• HP: 680
• EN: 68
• DMG: 12
• MIT: 61
• ACC: 2
• EVA: 1
• LD: 5 (7 w/ Reveal)

Skills

• One Handed Straight Sword - R5
• Heavy Armor - R2
• Search - R3 (Reveal)
• Martial Arts - R2
• Survival
• Concentration

Battle Ready Items

• Minor Health Potion x 2 [+15 HP][Single Use Item]
• Wasp Venom x 4 [+9 EN][Single Use Item]
• Lion Steak x 2 [+1 Col Multiplier][Single Use Item]

Buffs

Heartrock Salad x 1 [+2 LD]

@Zandra

Edited October 5, 2016 by Hirru

[Zandra 0]

Now they seemed to be a good team that had assembled and all of them was ready to head out. A smile of exitment was spreading at Zandras face as she realised they actually would try out a real challenge. Not that she had something against parties and safe farming, but it will be fun with a challenge except the floor boss fights. Thou with all overleveled frontliners, even the boss figths is sorta relatively easy. Just takes some time. So the party they now was consisted of one healer, one tank, one damage dealer, one AoE-slayer and one scout. They filled all roles. Except the treasure chest unlocking and stealthy theamed. Thou she didnt wanted to have with the current masteress of stealth with them.

"Okay then. Then lets move out!" She said with a steady voice and took the lead. As soon as they exited the safe zone, Zandra opened up her inventory and started to equip herself. First a dark, a shine on her wrist and the ice-braclet Teayre had done for her appeared. Second a dark, almost black, full-plate armour covered her whole body except the crimson eyed head. And last, her newly crafted purple battleaxe on her back. Now she was prepared to engage the enemy.

@Baldur

Spoiler

Lvl: 55

HP: 1115

Energy: 110

Dmg: 15

Acc: 3

Mit: 66

CC: 5(1st try) 4(2nd and 3rd try) 3(the rest

Faid: 40%

Skills:

2-handed battle axe (5)

First aid (5)

Charge (4)

Hvy armour (3)

Block (2)

Howl

One-handed curved sword (2)

Mods:

Field medic

Athletics

Familiar:

Zita(+6)

 

Edited October 7, 2016 by Zandra

[Baldur 0]

As they began to move out, Baldur took up his position walking next to Cal. The territory they would be going into was unknown. Who knew what kind of dungeon they would find, but no one had found one on the 18th floor that he knew of... well... he and Cal had found a beginner dungeon, but those things hardly counted since they were so short, and while the boss would have hurt him, it did little to the ultramarine knight. If they found a full, advanced rank dungeon, even Cal might be in jeopardy... but then they had Zandra, so as long as nothing had an AoE attack, they would be fine. Baldur remembered the advanced dungeon they had found on the floor below, and with a solid crew they had been able to overcome it... the only hiccup had been when Baldur crit and threatened to seal the hate of the boss from Cal. It probably could have ended him.

"Hey Calrex." Baldur said to the friend and kouhei at his side, as Baldur drew <<The Muramasa>>. "If you're anxious about a fight let me know, but I'd rather not use this." He stored the demonic blade into his inventory, and instead set his hand on the blade <<Fudoshin>>. "I can also use my <<Raijinken>> for the paralysis if you think we need to slow down the incoming damage."

Baldur doubted anything but the boss would survive long enough for his bleed damage to take effect, but the <<Fudoshin>> was Baldur's main weapon of choice, choosing to spare <<The Muramasa>> for special exceptions. The blades were rumored to be cursed in real life, even to being banned by the Emperor, and Teayre had seemed to succumb to it's temptation of power. It was quite literally the most powerful weapon in Aincrad, and that power could be intoxicating and corrupting, and unfortunately Baldur was not immune to arrogance.

@Calrex

[Calrex 0]

Calrex looked over as Baldur let him know about the Muramasa, as well as the fact he was keeping it for only dire situations, giving a nod, "Sure thing. I'll let you know. I've got my own contingency plans should these things be tougher than expected, but if things come to it we might need that blade."

From what he could tell, this may well be an odd conversation to be overhearing, as he wasn't sure if Zandra, Macradon, and Hirru were aware of the psychological effects uniques and their demonic weapons had on the user. It was that very blade which was originally driving Teayre to violence, and now that it was under Baldur's possession it seemed to remain dormant, but if even his mentor was refraining from using it, that meant its presence was still there.

"Tch, if only I could finish driving Achilles from my mind maybe I could try to quell whatever AI presence is in that sword as well, but I doubt I'll be able to."

"Alright then, I think I'm all set. let's get looking for that dungeon."

"If we encounter the strongest type of dungeon on the currently highest floor, this may certainly be tougher than the one Baldur and I had gone through. For all we know it might even be stronger than a floor boss in terms of damage, and we're not even a full raid party. Guess this is going to be one interesting excursion."

[Macradon 0]

Macradon nodded and smiled at Zandra as she would begin to lead them out into the fields of the 18th floor. Walking over the hanging bridges of Eriwald, Macradon would fell multiple senses from the area. He had been here before, for what seems to be right after Teayre, at least that's how it looked like when he was notified of the raid boss meeting that took place not long time ago. If it wasn't for that information, he wouldn't have known who was the one being faster than him, even though Takao usually was the one to find the boss room. Shrugging those thoughts off his mind or now, Macradon would feel, see, hear and smell all different things from these hanging bridges. The water underneath as well as the wood itself, creaking and the stream below cascading its way. The smell of the swamp filling the air as they began to walk away from the town after the different bridges and the different houses, walking over one last longer rocky bridge as they would get to what seemed to be the main land of the 18th floor.

"Well, I've been doing advanced dungeons on the 14th floor a few times, so an 18th floor dungeon shouldn't be that bad" Macradon would say to the others, trying to spark a conversation as they would venture out into the swamp's ... swamp. They had to make sure their scout would find what they were looking for, as that was the job they needed him to do. If he couldn't, maybe Macradon would have a try at it, he was the second best scout here for what it seemed, or maybe Zandra, Baldur or Calrex were great scouts without Macradon ever realizing, though that might be irrelevant at this point, as Hirru was the one to actual do the scouting now. From what he remembered, the different calculation for the boss's overall damage would be something like the floor times a high number, around 15 or so, that was what Macradon recalled, though it still seemed like Calrex would be able to take care of that with no problem at all.

[Hirru 0]

They had only just set out, but the hunter had already activated his Reveal, which made his right eye illuminate in a fluorescent yellow.  The reason why both did not activate was for precautionary reasons.  Reveal would allow the user to see past specific landmarks and obstacles, which made it great for searching for the unknown that wasn't hiding particularly well.  Unfortunately, the drawback was that nearly everything was practically see-through, minus players / npcs / mobs; which meant that the bridges and water were near transparent, which could lead to many problems, if the user wasn't paying attention.

For the most part, their start wouldn't bear fruit, which was to be expected.  There wasn't anything ahead of them that would be considered a sub-dungeon, or anything else, for that matter.  Most of the area was covered by really small bridges that they would have to single file through to proceed, but they would get nowhere with them.  There were pockets of mobs that they would be able to bypass on the bridges, but only just.  However, the hunter wouldn't be able to his job.

"I'm sure that we don't want to get our boots wet, but finding anything on these linear paths will give us nothing.  I can't see anything, and unless we trek through the marshes themselves, I probably never will."

[ID: 69193]
[LD: 8+7=15] No sub dungeon

@Zandra

Edited October 9, 2016 by Hirru

[Zandra 0]

Zandra slowed down a little so she was beside Calrex and Baldur. She had herd they was talking about Calrex defence and Baldur would use his paralyse to make the barrle safer for Calrex. She turned her face towards the couple. ‘’Also, I have the war rally horn, with its guaranteed paralyse I can go for that. And if you would be hit, Ive taken a good nights sleep and also took a shower before arriving. I feel like there would be no probs at all to succed making you feel good again.’’ She said. But maybe it was better to use the war rally when fighting against the mobs before they engage the boss, since it stuns all enemies, she was probably gonna use it if all mobs appears as once. ‘’I don’t know which was the highest I have did.’’ She said towards Macradon. ‘’But I do remember I did one that was pretty tough together with Jom..’’ she suddenly turned quiet when her thougths traveled back to Zugaikotsushima and towards the beachhouse where her loved one was sleeping. It had been such a long time since they last did something together. After their fight after the boss meeting, they haven’t went out doing anything. Even if they said it would change, it keeps going on as before. She let out a deep sigh and herd Hirru saying something, but she didn’t herd the words and looking forward, her eyes looking at nothing.

@Baldur

[Baldur 0]

As they were wandering around looking for dungeons, Hirru suggested that they go down to the forest floor and look around there. It had been where Baldur and Cal had found theirs as well.

"That's a great idea, oh, and before I forget, you can use these again."

Baldur pulled out a monocle and rabbit's foot and handed them to Hirru once again. "I forgot, these might help you out."

The two items had been specifically purchased by Baldur to help him find sub-dungeons when he was out soloing, or in a group without someone with the reveal skill mod. He himself had not invested in the mod due to his priorities, but he had taken some of the advice of Takao and invested in the <<Search & Detect>> skill to help him get more loot and find dungeons easier. He wasn't sure just how much to commit to that direction, but it would behoove him to take the mod and get more dungeons in.

Turning to Zandra, Baldur listened to her story. "Jom? Is that... Jomei, was it? Your husband? I think I've bumped into him a time or two, but I've never had the privilege of sharing a drink with him."

Baldur cast a glance at Macradon, the Knight commander was being somewhat quiet. It seemed he had been dungeon running as well, but on a more suitable floor. He was a good one to have, and the more time Baldur spent with the knight, the more impressed he became. He wasn't prone to bragging, seemed to be a solid, reliable team player, and those were valuable and surprisingly rare traits. Macradon was good people in his book.

"You ready to charge in, guns blazing @Calrex?"

[Calrex 0]

"Heh, trust me Baldur, the man can drink for ten people. I spent a night at a bar with him once, and let's just say I was glad I wasn't paying for drinks."

Calrex gave a laugh as he chimed in on Baldur's statement. Of course he was embellishing to some level, but from what he knew of Jomei he certainly could handle his alcohol, even though the effects of becoming intoxicated and the like could not be replicated within SAO, no matter how hard one tried. The best they could do is trigger a placebo effect. Shrugging his arm as he kept himself limber and stretched for whatever battles came their way he gave a nod, "I don't know about guns blazing, but I'll certainly take the first action, since I need to make sure you guys don't get targeted, right?"

He gave a smirk as he released the Grand Blade II's blade lock while still keeping the sword in the scabbard on the back of his hip, "This is the toughest floor so far, and even though Baldur and I had no problem with a beginner level dungeon, that doesn't mean it's going to be a cakewalk for this time around, especially if we find an advanced rank one. At least the rewards will hopefully be worth the challenge. Maybe I'll finally be able to grandmaster Martial Arts."

[Macradon 0]

As Hirru advanved to find a sub-dungeon, it didn't seem like he was finding anything peculiar. With a quick thought, Macradon would activate his own <Reveal> and <Search and Detect> skill so they had a wider array of places to look at at the same time. With his crimson eyes turning it a bright green, nearly yellow in hue, Macradon would see past many obstacles that weren't NPCs, Players or Mobs. He would scout with Hirru as the two were looking for a dungeon to hunt down with the rest of the party. Stretching his body, Macradon would think of where a sub-dungeon would be generated and hide itself, he was one to find the boss room on this floor as well, at least one of them. Without much trouble from there on, Macradon would look under and over anything that would lie in their ways.

(I'll add more flavor that I find some mats here later, bit busy)

Spoiler

ID: 69267
LD: 12+4=16, Material Found (I'm hoping you can find something cool, Hirru ;_;)

 

Edited October 11, 2016 by Macradon

[Hirru 0]

It seemed that nearly everyone was in agreement with them going out into mob infested areas to search much more heavily.  Zandra was the only one that seemed to not give an answer, and that concerned the hunter slightly.  He would have said something, but was distracted by Baldur when he loaned the hunter the two items that could up his LD substantially.  The hunter nodded to the samurai before un-equipping his armor and accessory; he wouldn't need them for some time, if he was in the company of this many high level players.

"Thanks, I'll use them well."

He would say before trying to move over to check on their team leader, Zandra.  She seemed to be quiet after mentioning "Jom", whom he would think to be Jomei.  The hunter met Jomei for a short time, even shorter than him meeting Calrex, however, he could remember him.  He would try to reach out to Zandra by voice alone, but would physically pull at her shoulder pauldrons to get her attention.

"Zandra, I need your agreement to go through the mob infested swamp, as well."

Spoiler

Stat Change:

Removed - Pride of the Guardian: +54 & Spirit of the Jade Dragon: +2 ACC / 1 EVA
Equipped -   Monocle of Sight V2: +1 Skill rank (Search) / +1 LD & Bandit's Lucky Rabbit's Foot: +3 LD

DMG - 12
MIT - 0
ACC - 0
EVA - 0
Luck - 9 (11 w/ Reveal)

@Zandra

Edited October 14, 2016 by Hirru